Japanese Economics Minister Seiji Maehara said on Friday that nuclear reactors can be restarted if a new regulator deems them safe, throwing into confusion how the dozens of units idle since the Fukushima disaster could be used in future energy plans.
Maehara, whose ministry had led debate in the Cabinet on energy policy, said a new law empowered the regulator to endorse bringing reactors back on line. He said the idle reactors could be a key source of power generation for now, a notion set to anger Japan’s growing ranks of opponents of atomic energy.
“If safety is approved, such reactors would be considered as an important power source,” Maehara, who also oversees national strategy, told a news conference.
“We should rely on nuclear as an energy option for the time being,” he said.
However, procedures for going ahead with restarts remain unclear. The new nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), said this week it does not hold ultimate responsibility to authorize reactor restarts and is concerned solely with safety.
All 50 working commercial reactors in Japan were taken off line for safety checks following the earthquake and tsunami that triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in the worst nuclear accident in a quarter of a century.
Two units were brought back on line after receiving an endorsement from now defunct regulatory bodies, but the final decision on restarting them was taken by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three other ministers.
The restart of those reactors at the Ohi station in western Japan, to fend off possible summer power shortages, galvanised anti-nuclear protesters, leading to mass demonstrations in Tokyo and other cities.
Any further restarts would not come until next year. The NRA has said it is to compile a blueprint of new standards to govern restarts by March next year and subject to public discussion.
Noda’s cabinet last month took account of anti-nuclear sentiment in devising a new energy policy that sought to end reliance on nuclear power by the 2030s by fostering renewable energy sources and supporting energy conservation. However, powerful lobbies have called for a rethink of policy and within days, ministers appeared to waver on their commitment to the plan.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of